


Kindred Souls

by steelrunner



Series: VLD Rare Pair Week 2017 [6]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Drabble, F/M, Gen, Implied Relationships, M/M, Mostly Gen, Multi, Polyamory, Season 2 spoilers, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, VLD Rare Pair Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-19
Updated: 2017-02-19
Packaged: 2018-09-25 11:51:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9819197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/steelrunner/pseuds/steelrunner
Summary: Pidge explains some facts of life to the princess.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the sixth prompt of Voltron Rare Pair Week: Wound/Scar. It's late, but it's here! This takes place in an alternate universe where soulmates take on each others' scars.

“Do your marks function in a similar capacity to ours?”

“Hmm?” Pidge looked up from her laptop, to find Allura standing next to her at the control panel for the Teludav, looking over its readings. Coran had asked Pidge to come down and give it a quick diagnostic run-through, to see how well the replacement scaultrite was holding up. “What markings?”

“These markings.” Allura leaned forward, and gently tapped the broad slash that ran across the bridge of Pidge’s nose. “All five of you have them. I was wondering if they worked like our Altean patterns, but I don’t think I’ve seen yours light up at all.”

“No, it’s just a regular scar,” Pidge said. “What, no one’s explained them to you, yet? Not Lance, or Shiro?” She almost bit back his name after he said it - no, of course Shiro wouldn’t have wanted to explain it.

“No…” Allura looked even more curious, now.

Pidge rubbed her nose, and pushed her laptop away, letting the program run on its own. She didn’t exactly relish the idea of explaining all of this to Allura, but someone had to do it eventually. “Well, I’m not sure where to start. I mean, there are a lot of theories about origins and function - all of which vary by culture - but since physiologically it’s all a complete mystery, there isn’t a scientific consensus, not really…” Allura’s eyes were already starting to glaze over, and Pidge sighed. “Let me start this again. Do Alteans have soulmates?”

“I’m not familiar with the term.”

“For us, a soul mate is another human who you feel particularly close to, someone who complements you in almost every aspect. Someone who knows you down to your soul,” Pidge said. She hesitated, then decided to leave out the debate over romantic vs. platonic soulmates - if humans had a hard enough time figuring it out, it probably wouldn’t go much easier for an alien. “And the way you can tell if someone’s your soulmate is if one of you gets cut or hurt, then the scar shows up on the other’s skin. My mom used to call it ‘skin-sharing’.”

Allura blinked. “No, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a phenomena like that, though I’ll have to ask Coran. It seems…counterproductive, if all it does is spread injuries.”

“Well, it’s just the marks, not the wounds.” Pidge didn’t want to think about how things would be if it _did_ work that way. “Thankfully.”

“I think I understand now,” Allura said. “The five of you are soulmates, and this only came from a single member of your group, with the others replicating it. Not a species-wide occurrence at all.”

Pidge nodded. Thankfully, Allura didn’t ask who had the original wound, but she squinted down at Pidge, like she was trying to examine her. “Do you have any more?”

“Yeah.” _Way too many._ “I mean, five people rack up a lot of injuries over the course of a life. We’ve all got our fair share.”

Allura sighed, a little wistfully, and she turned her keen gaze back to the panel. “It must feel good, to know you have so many close to your heart.”

Pidge shrugged. “I guess. It’s pretty weird to have a group this large, actually. Most soulmates come in pairs.”

Allura tilted her head. “It makes perfect sense to me. Why else would you be suited to pilot Voltron together?”

That…was not something Pidge had thought of before. Huh. It was a surprisingly reassuring thought. One Shiro might appreciate, if it ever came to that. She reached up to touch the scar again, almost unconsciously, before smiling a little as she turned back to her work.

**Author's Note:**

> You can't never convince me Shiro wouldn't be guilt-stricken over the fact that his soulmates have to see exactly what he suffered.


End file.
